Friday, February 27, 2009

Here's a great song and a dedication. Tomorrow night, a poor fellow will be attending the stage production of Dirty Dancing. (It's not me, it's a guy married to a woman I work with.) He's doing it because his wife is going and he's a supportive and loving husband, which is admirable. Believe me, I'm married, too, and I understand. But Dirty Dancing? Tough duty.

In his honor, I've promised to set myself up with a good strong Jack and Coke tomorrow night, while he's doing the supporting and loving thing. I've told her to pass along the message to him, so that when he's sitting in the audience and thinks he feels a warming in his throat, he won't worry it's an urge to sing along that he's having the time of his life. He'll know it's a telepathic or cosmic message sent from me to him. He'll feel it and imagine he's sitting somewhere else enjoying a good strong drink.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

After watching Barack Obama's speech last night, it seems more obvious than ever that he should make regular, very public addresses to the nation. Not soundbite stuff and not necessarily long form, but he should find a way to get out and visible more often. He's very good at it and I think his messages draw more public support than coverage of the sausage-making policy maneuvers that are always covered in the press as "president this, opposition that."

I was curious to see Bobby Jindal's response. I haven't seen him speak that much and he's being set up as the Republican "go-to" guy, it seems. I thought he did ok, but he had a manner of speaking that I didn't like. It took a while to get used to the accent, he had some odd facial expressions and his tone and language made me feel like he was trying to make things very basic, very clear, very easy for my simple mind to process.

Keep in mind, I'm a liberal democrat, so I'm biased going in. Until I fell asleep, I thought he did a decent job rhetorically making his argument, even if I don't buy it. And you don't get to that level of potential stardom without having some actual skill (I know, I know Palin did.) But stylistically I didn't care for it.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

is really going to get the attention of Someday I Will. And a worthwhile post it is.

For reasons that would become obvious, I'm not going to say you absolutely have to drop everything and totally read this right now. But your activity right now is indicative that you either have some leisure time or are avoiding doing something else already. So I humbly present the link again for your consideration and enjoyment.

.38 Special was never a favorite of mine. They were quite popular for a stretch there, though. It frustrated me that every time they came out with a new song, Carolyn Fox and the rest of the crew at WHJY would play the crap out of it.

As much as I liked HJY and the new retro rock station on Sirius, their playing of .38 Special does not please me. I've heard Fantasy Girl three times in the last week alone! What have I done to deserve this, I wonder?

Well, I want it to stop. So I'm going to try a little self-vaccination. Here's Fantasy Girl, by .38 Special. Let's hope it doesn't cause any adverse reactions...

If for some reason you don't appreciate Bob Dylan, try him again. If you give him a chance once every six months to a year, eventually you'll probably recognize the genius at some level. Maybe you won't walk around singing the songs or replaying them over and over on your iPod, but you'll give him credit for some brilliant lyrics. And no, I don't think listening to them outside of their original era diminishes their impact that much.

It is being featured here today simply because the title matches some personal stuff that occurred over the weekend. Enjoy nonetheless.

I like movies a lot, but I don't get to see many of them. I watch the Oscars every year. At least a little bit of them. Often I'm doodling on the computer or flipping between that and something else. Last night I was playing with the laptop while watching. But I think I caught most of the higlights.

I really liked the opening by Hugh Jackman. Ther are actors and then there are entertainers. I think Jackman is obviously in the later category after watching him last night.

I was glad to see Sean Penn win, but wished Meryl Streep had won. Kate Winslet does nothing for me. Neither does Angelina Jolie, if you're wondering where she was in the list above. As it goes with most big winners, I was Slumdog-ged out by the end of the night.

Good show overall. Adding the previous winners did make the show better. It's not something they can do every year, but kudos to them for pulling in the big names.

Friday, February 20, 2009

First of all, since they're in Wisconsin and it's February, can't the reporter do the interview inside? Or can this guy put on a coat? Talk about a bad example for kids.

But really, the substance of this doesn't seem new...or news. Kids fight. Other kids are interested in watching kids fight. Video cell phones and YouTube may be new, but I don't see where they encourage more of this age old, if dangerous, activity. And if it did, isn't this story at least two years late?

If you listened to any music in the late 70s or early 80s you will probably recognize the sound and the songs. They were something of a precursor to the New Age music, but still held onto a pop core. This first one, "Hold On Tight," was one of their big hits. There's an entire verse in French!

Here's another hit that blends the old and the new, sort of. It's "Roll Over Beethoven." This is really typical of ELOs music; they were known for orchestral sounds blended into keyboards and synthesizers. And while there may be a heavier guitar influence and Chuck Berry tones, it gets at the them of ELO.

Chances are you know this one, too. (and if you like cowbell, check the front end of this one!!)

This one was another really big hit and is the official Song of the Day out of respect to Mr. Groucutt, who is likely going to be lowered in a different way in the coming days.

In case you don't remember, another excellent ELO tune was featured as the Song of the Day here once before.

And here's on last big hit, Evil Woman.

Now go buy some ELO and put it on your iPod, for crying out loud! There's a widow that needs royalties.

The research seems to let men off the hook on one hand by saying "the way that men may depersonalize sexual images of women is not entirely something they control. In fact, it's a byproduct of human evolution, experts say. The first male humans had an incentive to seek fertile women as the means of spreading their genes."

But that makes us more the unthinking gorilla-type.

The article doesn't let woman off the hook, either. It reinforces the "gold digger" stereotype near the end, saying; "Evolutionary psychology would theorize that men view women as objects in terms of their youth and apparent fertility, while women might view men as instrumental in terms of their status and resources, Fiske said."

I am smart enough to end this post rather than offer any further opinion.

I've read a few posts so far and really like it. He's a newspaper guy from Minnesota (do the accent, nobody's listening...Minnesoooota) and he's really clever. Bleat is actually part of a larger universe of mini-sites on lileks.com, all of which are done by James Lileks.

Anyway, we grace bleat with a second mention and link because his post today was thoroughly enjoyable. If you go to read it, poke around the rest of the site. How can a site not be interesting when it's got a Matchbook Museum, Comic Book Covers, a Gallery of Regrettable Food and something called the Institute of Cheer, among other things?

Good luck to bleat dealing with the flood of new visitors this post is likely to generate. I hope he's got souped-up turbo hyperjets on his servers.

Dedicated to KJ. Ignore the lyrics and the title. The dedication is to her spirit. Anytime I start reading one of her posts, I think I'm going to end up sad and feeling sorry for her. But she has a tremendous spirit and always leaves me amazed at how well she's doing mentally. I know she must be having difficult moments and days. But even if she's only "up" long enough to make those posts or even if she's faking it, she's clearly not letting her cancer destroy her mind and spirit completely.

I envision and hope she makes that triumphant Jonathan Bender stroll at the end of it all.

The Pointy Universe, authored by KJ, is now part of the blog list over there on the right. So make sure you visit often.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

New York Post cartoon today. I'm sure they have a defense for this. "The stimulus bill is dumb, it could've been written by a monkey it's so bad." Something like that. Connect it to the shooting of the chimp that went on a rampage yesterday.

But c'mon. It's so clear that this cartoon WON'T be interpreted that way by a lot of people. And the other-probably more common--interpretation is so offensive and rude that it far outweighs the very, very minimal humor achieved with the "intended" one.

How an editor didn't look at this and say: "this is not worth it" is beyond me. Apparently the NYPost didn't follow the Dennis and Callahan-METCO story a few years ago.

Ah, the Henry Rollins Band provide just the right SOTD for A-Rod. Check out some of these lyrics and see if they don't fit A-Rod and his place in baseball until a week and a half ago.

And now you're desperate and in need of human contactAnd then you meet me and your whole world changesBecause everything I say is everything you've ever wanted to hearSo you drop all you defenses, I'm perfect in every way'cause I make you feel so strong and so powerful insideYou feel so luckyBut your ego obscures reality that you never bothered toWonder why things are going so wellYou want to know why?

I'll hide behind a smile and understanding eyesAnd I'll tell you things that you already know so you can say:I really identify with you, so muchAnd all the time that you're needing me is just the timeThat I'm bleeding you, don't you get it yet?I'll come to you like an affliction then I'll leave you like an addictionYou'll never forget me... you wanna know why?

I don't know why I feel the need to lie and cause you so much painMaybe its something inside, maybe its something I can't explaincause all I do is mess you up and lie to youI'm a liar, ooh, Im a liarBut if you'll give me another chance I swear I'll never lie to you againcause now I see the destructive power of a lie,They're stronger than truthI can't believe I ever hurt you, I swear I will never lie to you againPlease, just give me more chance, I'll never lie to you again, no,I swear, I will never tell a lie, I will never tell a lie, no, noHa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! sucker! sucker! sucker!

I am a liar, yeah, I am a liar, yeah, I am a liarI lie to you, I feel good, I am a liar, yeahI lie to you, I lie, yeah, I lieI'm a liar, I lie, I like it, I feel good, I like it, and againI like it again and I'll keep lying, I promise

Yesterday, he answered the question. People can't stand him because he's a phony. Sure, some of his detractors are merely jealous. It's easy to hoot on him because he folds in the clutch, or because he tried cheap tricks like slapping the ball out of an opponent's glove, or yelling, "I got it," to decoy an infielder when rounding the bases. Here in Boston, people hate him because he is a Yankee. Parents and fans who embrace baseball feel cheated by those who cheated the game.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

"Hi, I'm Alex Rodriguez. I'm here today to talk about my steroid use. I admit to making a mistake. Though I'm telling you the mistake was taking the steroids, the mistake was really getting caught.

I'm going to get emotional talking about this. You'd be sad too if you were being embarrassed and exposed the way I am. Few cheaters are ever happy about being caught, especially those who have worked so hard to unsuccessfully build a positive public image.

I'm here because Peter Gammons didn't ask me enough questions, certainly not tough ones. I need you to ask me more questions so I can pretend to tell you all the facts. Here's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'm telling my story in great detail here so there will be no need for anyone to call me into a situation where, when my story falls apart as lies, I'll have opened myself up to perjury charges.

At this point, I have done all that I need to do to reach a point where any future questions can be ignored with a reference to this "full" telling of the facts.

Australia is one of those places that lots of people seem to want to see. Not me. For some reason, I have no interest in every going to Australia, unless I went to a whole bunch of other places first.

I feel kind of the same about Italy and Greece. History and mythology are very enjoyable to me, but these places are nowhere near the top of my travel wish list, but I can't explain why. Years of people telling me how much they want to go or how much they enjoyed it have done nothing to change my mind.

So why the Song of the Day? I liked the song when I heard it on KJ's blog, Pointy Universe. She had a picture slide show with this song playing throughout. Funny thing is, KJ recently started doing a Seven Songs of the Day playlist on her site recently (explained) and I invited her to peruse and steal ideas from my selections. Instead, I'm stealing from her, but not something from her playlist.

The Shins, you might recall, contributed some tunes to the soundtrack of Garden State, a rare example of a movie and soundtrack that are both excellent throughout.

Through cnn.com, I found Time's list of the 25 Best Blogs, 2009. After going through the descriptions of the sites on the list, I had bookmarked 14 of them. (I had one already in my bookmarks) After a quick look at one, I quickly found another site I thought worth bookmarking for future reading.

The sites Time lists--and the ones I bookmarked--vary widely in style, substance and focus. They include blogs on science, politics, media, food and life in general.

The one I found through Lifehacker that I'll definitely revisit is TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. There's a conference every year with some big names and big thinkers giving talks about some pretty interesting topics.

I'm not going to go into describing the blogs or why I felt them worth visiting. Go to the list and see if you find anything you like.

I am not superstitious. So when there were plans being made for a birthday party for my sister in the St. Louis area, the fact that the most convenient time to fly out there to attend it would be Friday, February 13 did not phase me. I noted the date only with the hopes that others would not be phased by it either. Luckily, they were not. At least not enough to prevent them from going.

And this was before we knew that the night before, another plane would crash, killing all 49 passengers and one person on the ground. If there's one thing that makes people more nervous than Friday the 13th, it seems to be flying right after a plane crash.

But away we went, myself, Mrs. noternie, Sister of noternie and Husband of sister of noternie. As we sat on the plane, waiting to taxi and take off, we watched as a group of Marines, in full dress uniform, unloaded a casket-draped coffin belonging to one of two Massachusetts soldiers killed in the middle east last week. I believe it was Lance Corporal Kevin Preach.

Anyway, we flew two legs--the second of which was on one of those small 40-50 seaters--and lived to tell about it. I was going to show how unafraid I was by actually posting my plans to fly on Friday the 13th, but the party for my sister was a surprise party and there was a very remote chance she would've read my blog and then the jig would've been up.

The party was a big hit; Sister of noternie was completely and totally surprised by both the party and our attendance. My first foray into hunting--Brother in law of noternie in St. Louis area took me and the other brother in law out to get rabbits--was much less eventful. More on that in another post.

The expertise to evaluate whether we have made things better, worse or about the same as they were before we arrived in Afghanistan and Iraq is probably held more by others than me. But this article made me wonder.

Eggplant Parm was slated for dinner last night. I was looking forward to it. The pan was on the stove, with olive oil heating. The spaghetti pot was filled with water. I sliced the eggplant, breaded it and started it in the pan. I put the baking dish near it for easy transfer when it was ready. I turned on the oven and the burner to start heating the water for the pasta. Then I went back to the counter opposite the stove to slice the mozzarella.

KA-BLAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!

The mistake in the above paragraph is that I didn't turn on the burner to start heating the water for the pasta. That would've entailed turning on the back left burner. I turned on the front left burner. The eggplant was cooking in the pan on the front right burner and I had placed the baking dish right next to it, on the front left burner. The one I turned on. The 9x12 glass pan exploded in a very noisy way.

There was glass on the stove. Glass in the spaghetti pot. Glass in the pan with the eggplant cooking in olive oil. Glass on the plate of breaded eggplant waiting for its turn in the pan. Glass on the counter beside the stove. Glass on the microwave cart on the other side of the stove. Glass on the other counter, opposite the stove, counter and microwave cart. Glass in the dog's water and food dishes. Glass all over the floor. Glass on the kitchen table and chairs. Glass on the floor of two rooms that have entryways at opposite ends of the kitchen. Glass on the floor in the hall. Glass assumed to be all over the clean dishes in the drying rack. Glass assumed to be in the container of bread crumbs near the half-sliced mozzarella. Glass assumed to be on the half-sliced mozzarella. Glass in those little trays under each of the burners on the stove. Glass under the little trays under each of the burners on the stove. Glass on the handle of the oven.

There was a lot of glass. The takeout sushi was good, but it required eating much later and having to get dressed and go out to pick it up. So I added a couple of Jack and Cokes to my evening.

I really don't like cleaning up broken glass because I'm convinced that there's always some left.

Order flowers from Winston Flowers, if you can. They deliver beautiful flowers and they have unbelievable service.

I had flowers sent to Mrs. noternie on February 2. Sure Valentine's Day is February 14, but the 2nd is a special day. It's Groundhog's Day, but more importantly, it is the day I asked Mrs. noternie to become Mrs. noternie.

Not only did her coworkers rave in fits of jealousy about what a wonderful, thoughtful, generous, loving, caring, giving husband I am, they thought the flowers looked pretty darn good, too. Actually, the flowers probably got more kudos than I did.

I got the standard email confirmation from Winston of the order and then delivery. And just now I got a phone call following up. Did she love the flowers?

This is a nice thing to do, especially because this week is the busiest of the year for the flower industry. I wouldn't blame them if they put off this routine task this week to focus on managing incoming business. But they didn't.

If they didn't look good or last, this would've been the perfect opportunity for me to complain. I had no reason. So thanks to them. Instead of a complaint, I am posting a recommendation. I think you should go buy some flowers from them.

Great news, Randy Price left Channel 7 because he didn't agree with the sensational way the covered news or the stories they shoehorned in because they were sensational, even if they weren't local.

I'd be proud of him...if he didn't wait until 2009 to make this stand. These are hardly new directions for Channel 7 and he's been an anchor there 12 years! To be credible, the last straw should've been a looooong time ago.

Monday, February 9, 2009

Last night, I caught the very end of a PBS special; George Carlin: The Mark Twain Prize. Tonight I caught the whole thing on the NH PBS station. Great stuff. They had comedians such as Bill Maher, Jon Steward, Denis Leary, Gary Shandling, Richard Belzer, Margaret Cho, Joan Rivers, Lewis Black and some others talk about his career and style and then introduce classic clips of his stuff. It's one of those Kennedy Center things.

Look for it and watching it if you can. Here's a bit they played near the end. Classic Carlin.

A MODERN MANGeorge Carlin

I'm a modern man, digital and smoke-free; a man for the millennium. A diversified, multi-cultural, post-modern deconstructionist; politically, anatomically and ecologically incorrect.

I've been uplinked and downloaded, I've been inputted and outsourced. I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I'm a high-tech low-life. A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, bi-coastal multi-tasker, and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

The fun, goofy, ejoyable bounciness of the Barenaked Ladies. I was listening to the album Rock Spectacle the other day and remembering how much fun they are. This song isn't on that, I listened to this on Greatest Hits after Rock Spectacle did some goofy things on my iPod.

In a nod to overwhelming demand, I cam going to take part in the "25 things" trend, which is sweeping the online world. KJ at Pointy Universe did one a few weeks ago and I read through the entire thing.

I wasn't going to do it because I didn't think people would be interested in learning 25 thigns about me. Then I realized if that were true, they wouldn't be reading my blog! So not only did I do it, I blew right through the suggested length of 25 into the 50s!!!!

Feel free to comment and react. Even send me a link to your list if you want. But if you feel the need to argue about any of these things, keep in mind that I reserve the right to invoke the "As long as you're reading my blog the truth is whatever I say it is" clause at any time.

3. If I’m in a state where the lottery goes above $100m (sometimes $50m), I buy $5 worth, just to allow myself the entertainment of dreaming what I’d do with it the winnings.

4. I’ve been known to make things up to confuse people, irritate them, make a point, or see if they are even paying attention.

5. Whatever it is, it would wake you up before it would wake me up.

6. I never believe anyone is as busy as they say they are.

7. In my house, I’m the "Idea guy."

8. A few years ago, orange became my favorite color.

9. Getting a hug from my girls is so good I have trouble describing it.

10. I invented the Tubby Dance (patent pending) and would like this noted at the time of my death.

11. My chocolate chip pancakes are the best in the world because my daughters say they are.

12. John: Thank you for the Who.

13. I have webbed feet.

14. I would do almost anything to make my wife laugh.

15. My parents are better than your parents. My wife is better than your wife. My kids are better than your kids. My sisters are better than your siblings. You might have a better dog or cat, but that's it. An I won't entertain any arguments on this, so save it.

16. Numerous people have marveled at how quickly I can fall asleep.

17. I am very curious about things.

18. I sometimes can’t believe such a wonderful woman is married to me.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

I love my niece and nephews and would do anything I could to help them. Same for other various children my wife and I know and support when they come to us with school fundraisers.

I do not blame the kids for the constant fundraisers, which seem to start before actual learning does each September. I don't blame their parents.

But when does it get to the point that they just come to us with the local tax bill and ask us how much we'd like to chip in? Rather than pages with columns and ordering information they could send them out with credit card machines.

A longtime favorite from the band Sponge. Good, straightforward, guitar-based rocker.

Yes, once again, there were plows circling the neighborhood last night. Once again, they were too late to be of any benefit to people coming home from work, but that's what we get for living on a road less traveled. The extra time also allowed me to get out and shovel some of the snow in the street that would've been plowed into a pile at the end of the driveway that might've been stacked higher and hardened by the time I returned to shovel it in the morning.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

I don't want to be too critical here. But I was never a fan of Richie Valens. And while Buddy Holly may have been one of the most influential early rock pioneers, I think his real power was realized by people who saw what wasn't there before he was. Taken out of that context, I think his music suffers more than, say, The Beatles. Elvis has this problem to a certain extent, too, I think. But not Louis Armstrong. Strange, eh?

Anyway, thinking about commemorating what was no doubt a significant event in music and American history, I couldn't post the entire "Peggy Sue Got Married" (Kathleen Turner, Nicholas Cage) so I'm pointing to the other related piece that provided me more entertainment than the music of the Big Bopper, Richie Valens and Buddy Holly.

If it weren't for their deaths, this song never would've been around for me and a dozen college kids to sing at the top of our drunken lungs three times a week.